He wondered what was going on in her head, betting Paul had something to do with it. ‘You’re already more, Mags, much, much more.’
Carefully he peeled off her leggings and eased the jumper over her head, revealing simple white underwear, against pale skin. And hell’s teeth, was that a tattoo peeping out? The tip of a butterfly’s wing?
Christ, that was so sexy. She was so sexy; coolly sophisticated on the outside, yet much of that was a veneer. On the inside he’d like to bet she was bolder and far less reserved than she thought she was.
‘I couldn’t find any snazzy underwear.’
Busy kissing the soft swell of her stomach, it took him a moment to register what she’d said. ‘What do you mean?’
She waved a hand down her body. ‘I’ve not thought to buy sexy underwear for a long time. This morning, I regretted it.’
The thought that she’d planned this in her head… he almost couldn’t breathe with the ache it started in his chest. ‘For future reference,’ he told her, planting a kiss on her cleavage, ‘anything with you in it is sexy.’
She hiccupped out a laugh. ‘That can’t be true. I’ve lost my flat stomach, nothing is pert any more.’
‘This?’ He nodded to the gentle curve of her stomach. ‘That’s far more special than a flat stomach. That’s a stomach that has held two precious girls.’ With almost embarrassing haste, he unclipped the bra, then drew in a sharp breath. ‘And God, Mags. Look what you’re hiding here. I think I’m in love.’ He groaned as he cupped the luscious globes. ‘These are spectacular. I’m going to revise what I said earlier. Anything with you in it is sexy, but you with nothing on is bloody sensational.’
Her body shook as she started to laugh.
‘Hey, stop that.’ He bent to suckle a ripe pink nipple. ‘This is serious business.’ He looked up, and caught her smiling at him. As he stared back, mesmerised by her, the amusement in her eyes started to fade, heat and desire taking their place.
She reached down to undo the button on his jeans. ‘I want to see you, too.’ Hastily he shoved off his jeans and his boxers, feeling a wave of fresh desire as she stared down at him. ‘Did you say something about spectacular…?’
He laughed, tugging off the final piece of her underwear and easing her hair from the constraint of its jaunty ponytail. ‘Flattery will get you absolutely everywhere you want to go.’
Then he bent to kiss her again, and soon he was lost to her, to the rose scent of her skin, the sexy sounds she made. The way her hand wrapped around the part of him that ached.
‘Condom,’ he managed, a second before all sense deserted him, and dived inelegantly off the bed to rummage through the contents of his wallet.
Then he was thrusting into her, drowning in her heat. Nothing in his life to date had felt so good, so right. Nor so intense. For a brief moment panic filled him. This had the potential to be more than a hot fling, more than him showing Maggie how to laugh again.
More than a beautiful distraction from where his life was heading.
For the first time in his life, he’d met a woman who had the potential to hurt him.
But then her husky moan chased away his thoughts and he angled his hips, deepening their connection, his kisses becoming distracted, impatient, messy. Life was for living, and while he had the chance, he was going to enjoy this smart, outwardly reserved, yet, he was coming to realise, inwardly passionate woman to the full.
Chapter Nineteen
As Seb rolled off her with a satisfied grunt, Maggie stretched out beside him, feeling… oh stuff it, there were no other words for it. She felt bloody fantastic. Sex was the best thing to do on a Sunday afternoon.
Fleetingly she thought of Paul, and tried to recall if they’d ever, even in the early days, had sex during the day. Her mind came up blank.
Early on in their relationship, sex with Paul had been… nice. Towards the end, it had been perfunctory. Done out of habit, not desire. At no time had it been as mind-blowing, all-encompassing or fun as Seb had made it. Nor had she ever felt so desirable.
Turning to face him, she found Seb propped up on his side, watching her.
‘That was…’ She trailed off, feeling suddenly uncertain. What if it hadn’t been fantastic for him. What if it had just been ordinary?
‘Incredible? Bonzer, ripper?’ He smiled, giving her a tender kiss on the lips. ‘The word spectacular comes to mind again.’
Satisfaction and delight rolled through her. ‘It does, doesn’t it.’
His eyes held hers and though his smile remained, it slipped a little, his expression mirroring the uncertainty she’d felt a moment ago. ‘So now you’ve had your wicked way with me, will you go out with me?’
Her pulse scrambled. ‘You mean like, on a date?’
‘I kind of hoped there’d be more than one.’
She couldn’t deny the joy, yet nor could she hide the worry. ‘I’d like that.’
His smile broadened, but as his eyes searched hers, he sighed. ‘Damn, I can hear a but.’
Unable to resist, she placed a hand on his face, running her fingers across the stubble. ‘We’d be fooling ourselves to think this, you and me, could be simple.’
A furrow appeared between his eyes. ‘Why?’
‘You know why.’ With the fog of lust cleared, the reality of their situation lay heavily over her.
‘Because of my sisters?’ He shook his head. ‘They already suspect what’s happening anyway, and they won’t care.’
‘They won’t care now, maybe, but when it ends?’ She wanted to go back to losing herself in him again instead of the awkwardness of this heavy conversation. ‘I don’t want to lose their friendship.’
‘You won’t. My sisters aren’t fickle like that.’
‘Then there’s Tabby and Penny—’
‘Who already know me.’
What about the fact that you’re you, with your vitality, your rugged beauty, and I’m me, with my fussiness, my ordinariness. The words were trapped inside her. It was easier to admit to the practical than to her awful insecurity when it came to this, to relationships.
Raising his hand, he gently trailed a finger down her cheek. ‘Am I the only one feeling something here?’
She swallowed, her throat tight, her mouth dry. ‘No,’ she admitted. ‘I feel it too, but… oh God, Seb, I’m not this woman. I don’t do this.’
His gaze narrowed. ‘You don’t date?’
‘The last guy I dated, I married.’
She didn’t miss his shocked look. ‘Nobody since then?’
‘No.’ There had been a few offers, but none she could really remember. None that had made her want to risk trying again. Until now.
He watched her quietly with those incredible blue eyes. ‘Dating doesn’t have to be all deep and serious, you know,’ he said finally. ‘It can be fun and frivolous.’ In a welcome change of mood, he flashed her one of his smiles. ‘I’m a bloody master at fun and frivolous.’
Laughter bubbled, as it did so readily when she was with him. All of her life she’d been serious: as a child, taking care of her sister, as an adult, working hard to become a doctor, handling life and death decisions on a frighteningly regular basis. Then she’d gone and married someone even more serious than she was. No wonder it hadn’t worked out.
Could she do carefree? Could she just relax and let this happen?
‘What do you say?’ His hands left her face and began to move down her body. ‘Let’s have some fun together, Mags.’
She gasped as his fingers found her core. ‘Yes. Oh God, yes.’
She wasn’t sure if that was a yes to the dating, or to him continuing his exploration. Just that she wanted more of whatever he was willing to offer.
Soon he was sliding back into her, this time with his front to her back, his hands caressing her breasts as his hips drove into her.
‘You’re beautiful, you know that, yes?’ His words came out as pants, hot against her skin. ‘So fucking sexy I can’t get enough of you.’
/> Spectacular had been his word, yet it was exactly how she wanted to describe him, and how he made her feel. As if she was the most desirable woman he’d ever met.
Minutes, hours… she lost track of time as she lost herself to him.
‘Mags.’ Hands squeezed her shoulders, and she felt a kiss on the top of her head. ‘Wake up, someone’s ringing on the doorbell.’
‘What?’
She jerked upright, belatedly dragging the duvet with her.
‘The front door.’
And now she could hear it, a jarring, insistent sound disturbing the sensual haze she’d been luxuriating in.
‘Oh my God, it’s Paul with the girls.’
Panic filled her and she leapt out of bed, desperately searching for her clothes. Where the hell was her underwear? Her leggings?
‘I think you’re looking for these?’ Calmly Seb climbed from the bed and picked up her discarded clothes. Clearly totally at ease in his skin, he crossed the room and handed them to her. Then dropped a kiss on her neck. ‘Chill, Mags. They can wait.’
‘No, you don’t understand.’ Frantically she started to dress. ‘What’s it going to look like?’ She caught sight of herself in the mirror and her alarm escalated. ‘Oh God, my hair, my face. I know exactly what it’s going to look like.’
‘So?’ He shrugged, slipping into his boxers. ‘You’re a single woman. You’ve not done anything to be ashamed of.’
There was the slightest edge to his voice, enough for her to pause, and take a breath. ‘I’m not ashamed. I just don’t want Paul knowing my private business.’ The doorbell sounded again, and she hastily dragged her jumper over her head. ‘How do I look?’
His eyes skimmed over her face, and he smiled. ‘Honestly? Like you’ve just had a couple of hours of amazing sex.’
‘Oh God.’ She went to the mirror and tried to scrape her hair back into a pony tail. Again the doorbell sounded.
‘I’ll get it.’ Seb started towards the door.
‘No.’ She couldn’t let him answer her front door. That seemed way too big a deal for someone she’d only just, tentatively, agreed to date.
‘Why not? Give you time to straighten yourself up.’ He winked. ‘Though I’m a big fan of the mussy-haired, flush-cheeked, just-had-sex look.’
He was finding this so easy, in fact it was amusing him, yet she was drowning in embarrassment. Did it really matter what Paul thought? The man had been having sex with another woman while he’d been married to her. Why was she being so prim, so pernickety, about this?
Because that was the person she’d become. Responsible, cautious. Not one to make waves, to act out of character. Certainly not a woman to have sex for over two hours with a man ten years her junior. While her daughters were having lunch with their father.
‘Mags?’ Half in, half out of the bedroom, Seb stared at her in confusion.
‘Sorry, yes, answer it, please.’ She bit into her lip. ‘But can we not make it obvious—’
‘We’ve been having sex?’ He exhaled a rough breath, dragging a hand through his hair. ‘Of course.’
Seb bounded down the stairs, trying not to think too hard about why Maggie was so twitchy about her ex knowing what they’d been up to. The girls he could understand, though they were too young to pick up on the subtleties of a just-had-sex appearance.
Paul, yeah, he might guess, but why did she care what he thought? The only reason he could come up with was one that chilled him to the core. She was still partly in love with the guy.
Pausing to take a breath, to settle himself, he opened the door. Then bit the inside of his cheek to stop from smirking when Paul gaped at him.
Dropping his gaze to the girls, Seb grinned. ‘Who was making all that noise?’
Tabby pointed proudly to her chest. ‘Me. I pressed the button but then Mum didn’t answer so I runged it again.’
‘And again, and again,’ Penny muttered under her breath. ‘I said Mum would have heard the first time.’
‘She did, but she’s…’ Shit, he should have thought of this one before he opened the door. ‘In the middle of something.’
‘Why are you answering her door?’
Paul glared at him, jaw muscle ticking, eyes like flint. There was something about the arrogant tilt of his chin, the sharp cut of his cheekbones, the expensive cut of his hair, that made Seb want to slam the door back in his face. ‘Because she’s in the middle of something,’ he repeated.
‘What?’
It was an obvious question, and maybe if the guy had been half-way friendly, if he hadn’t been such a bastard to Maggie, hadn’t chosen to desert his daughters for the last few years, Seb might have felt bad about his next words. ‘I don’t believe that’s any of your business.’
Anger flared in Paul’s eyes, and his jaw became more rigid, but whatever he might have been about to say was halted as Maggie came into view.
‘Hey, girls.’
They dashed forward, throwing their arms around her, and Seb felt his chest tighten, just a little, at the obvious love. Easy for him, with his lack of any sort of responsibility, to dive into what, common sense told him, would only be a short-term fling. Not so easy for Maggie. As a fresh wave of respect flooded through him, he made a silent promise to her. He’d make sure she never regretted any of it.
‘Did you want to come in?’
Maggie asked the question of Paul, and Seb could tell the guy was torn. ‘Isabelle is in the car.’
‘She’s welcome too. If you want.’
How could she be so polite to him? Seb didn’t understand. He wasn’t aggressive by nature, nor did he anger or take offense easily, but there was no way he could be this polite to someone who’d fucked him over.
‘Could we have a chat?’ Paul glanced pointedly at Seb. ‘Just the two of us.’
Seb stood his ground, not willing to go scuttling inside on the man’s say-so.
Maggie glanced at him, her hair back together, her face reserved. Nothing left of the passionate woman he’d been buried inside only twenty minutes ago. ‘Would you mind going inside with the girls? I’m sure they’d like to talk to you about last night’s final.’
He wanted to stay, to protect her, stick up for her, and it gutted him to know she didn’t need or want either from him.
He felt a little hand curl around his, and looked to see Tabby grinning up at him. ‘That man won, the one who had greasy hips.’
‘Oily.’ Penny corrected. ‘The judge said he had oily hips.’
Tabby stuck her tongue out at her sister. ‘That’s what I said.’
And Seb couldn’t help but laugh as he was pulled down the hallway.
He wasn’t laughing ten minutes later when Maggie walked into the kitchen. She looked subdued, the spark gone from her eyes, the flush of her cheeks a distant memory.
‘Did you have a good time with your dad?’ she asked, joining them at the centre island where the girls had jumped onto bar stools and were drinking the hot chocolate he’d managed to cobble together.
‘We ate cheese that wasn’t cheese and stuff that was green and slimy.’ Tabby frowned and looked at her sister. ‘Penny knows.’
‘It was avocado salad with grilled hal… halum… something.’
‘Grilled halloumi?’ Maggie looked at Tabby. ‘That was the cheese that wasn’t cheese?’
‘Yeah.’ Tabby pulled a face. ‘It was yucky.’
‘Isabelle is vegetarian,’ Penny supplied, making Maggie’s eyebrows shoot up.
‘Well, wow, that’s interesting.’
Seb caught her eyes. ‘Why?’
‘Because Paul always liked his meat. On one occasion I made a vegetarian lasagna and he complained heavily. Looks like he’s changed.’
His wife made him a meal, and he complained? Seb was starting to wish he had slammed the door in Paul’s face after all.
As Maggie continued to ask questions of the girls, Seb began to feel more and more like the unwanted guest. She’d invited him for lunch. C
onsidering they’d gone from that to her bed, and then to a visit from her ex… yeah, she had a lot to process. And if he knew one thing about her, she was a thinker.
‘Well, I’d better be going.’
‘What about the lesson?’ As soon as Penny blurted the words, she flushed and stared down at her feet.
It left Seb momentarily confused – lesson, what lesson? Then he remembered his promise a few weeks back, and shame coiled through him. ‘You want me to show you some dance steps now?’
She nodded, still not looking at him. In contrast, Tabby bounced up and down. ‘Yippee, dance lesson. I want one too.’
Seb felt trapped between a rock and a hard place. Keep the daughters happy and his promise to Penny, or upset Maggie by outstaying his welcome. ‘I can do a quick lesson now.’ He glanced at Maggie. ‘Or I can come and do one another day.’
She gave him a strained smile. ‘I think the girls are hoping you’ll stay.’
What about you? He wanted to ask, though he had a feeling he knew the answer. Was she already regretting sleeping with him? Regretting agreeing to date him, now that the reality of her life – her children, her ex – had burst back into their all-too-brief afternoon?
But two little people were staring up at him expectantly, so Seb pushed away the heavy thoughts and pasted on a smile. ‘Who wants to go first?’
Chapter Twenty
Maggie sat at her desk, staring at the sandwich she’d thrown together that morning. She had twenty minutes to eat, stretch her legs and recharge until her next patient.
All she could do was fret over yesterday.
Not over lunch, not over spending the afternoon in bed. With Seb.
No, that she was not going to regret.
Her reaction to Paul’s hurtful words on the doorstep after Seb had walked inside with the girls? Yep, that she was still stewing over.
‘You’re embarrassing yourself, Maggie,’ Paul had told her dispassionately. ‘A professional woman like you, a GP, for God’s sake, cavorting around with some young beach bum. It’s not only demeaning, it’s unfair on the girls. What will people be saying behind your back? What sort of gossip will you subject Penny and Tabby to?’
Strictly Come Dating (The Kathryn Freeman Romcom Collection, Book 3) Page 17
